WRC marksToivonen win

The 30th anniversary of Henri Toivonen’s 1986 Rallye Monte-Carlo win was commemorated by current WRC stars during the opening round of the 2016 season last weekend.

The Finn claimed his third and final WRC win in a Group B Lancia Delta S4, 20 years after father Pauli triumphed in the French Alps. A little more than three months after his win, Henri died when his car plunged off the road and exploded at the Tour de Corse.

Francesco Buffi, co-driver to Henri’s brother, Harri, visited the Monte-Carlo service park to ask drivers, co-drivers and team managers to write their tributes and memories on a panel which he will present to the Toivonen family as a tribute.

Among those to contribute were M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson, a former team-mate of Toivonen, Volkswagen Motorsport director Jost Capito and drivers Sébastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, Robert Kubica, Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg.

Latvala (pictured with Capito and co-driver Miikka Anttila) is a keen aficionado of Toivonen’s career and said: “I was very young when Henri died, but I’ve read and watched so many films about him. In my view he was one of the WRC greats.”